Canadiens salvage OT win over Senators

January 16, 2014|Reuters

Canadiens salvage OT win over Senators

OTTAWA -- Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban scored the unassisted overtime winner, but he couldn't give enough of the credit for the setup to a guy standing a few stalls down from him in the visitors' locker room on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

Subban knew he wouldn't have even been in position to perform the heroics if not for the play of Canadiens goalie Carey Price.

"Listen, I know he's my teammate and everything, but I'm hard pressed to find another goalie that's better than him right now in the world," Subban said. "There's some really good ones in this league, but the way he's been playing of late and this year, I mean, I don't know, to me he's the best goalie in the world right now.

"That's not say anything about the other goalies. There's some great goaltenders out there. But with that type of performance ... just watch the tape. It's pretty incredible."

Price made 40 saves, many of the difficult variety, as the Canadiens blew a three-goal lead but then came back to tie the score in the third period before defeating the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Subban's effort 23 seconds into the extra session.

Subban's eighth goal of the season was all about determination. He followed up his shot to push the rebound past Senators goalie Craig Anderson.

Four consecutive goals by the Senators -- two late in the first period and two late in the second -- erased a deficit and had Ottawa in position to increase its point-collecting string to eight games.

But Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec scored his second goal of the game with 8:58 to play in regulation to set up the overtime drama.

Anderson made just 18 saves on the night.

"They obviously got the best of us for most of that game," said Canadiens winger Max Pacioretty, who netted his 21st goal of the season as the Habs took a 3-0 lead in the first period. "But I'll say it once and I'll say it again: Good teams find a way to win."

Canadiens center David Desharnais had Montreal's other goal, and the Senators' scorers were wingers Clarke MacArthur and Bobby Ryan, defenseman Erik Karlsson and center Kyle Turris.

Karlsson also had two assists to lead all players with three points.

"It was a great game to be part of," Ryan said. "The pace was tremendous and the fans probably enjoyed it. But being down 3-0, I think we were lucky to get one point. We battled back and showed a lot of resilience.

"It's a tough way to finish to let it slip away."

Plekanec's tying goal was a heartbreaker for the Senators, particularly defenseman Jared Cowen. Chasing Plekanec on a breakaway, he saw Anderson make the initial save, but as Cowen slammed on the brakes, the rebound went in off his skate.

"I'm more upset with how (the play) started than how it finished," said Cowen, who took no solace in the fact he had two assists. "There's nothing you can do about those ones. I couldn"t get out of the way because I was stopping. It's one of things where you're helpless."

The victory allowed the Canadiens to move eight points up on the Senators in the division race. Ottawa now sits one point back of the Washington Capitals in a bid for the final wild-card spot.

"It's bitter right now, a little bit," MacArthur said of the mood in the Senators' room. "We had great character to come back. To score four unanswered shows the minimal panic we had. To give it up in the third, it's tough.

"You have that one-goal lead in the third, you've got to find a way to close it out and you don't give up breakaways and those high-end scoring chances."

Price said it felt good to see Subban end the game. Asked if he thought it was his own best performance of the season, he shrugged.

"It's my job to give us an opportunity to win," Price said. "That's all I tried to do out there, just try and make that save and keep it close."

NOTES: Senators RW Chris Neil was scheduled to return from a hamstring injury, but something went wrong with the plan and he wound up missing his sixth game in a row. Replacing Neil in the lineup was LW Matt Kassian, which was not all bad because the Senators had a 14-3-7 with him playing. ... After missing Tuesday night's game with the flu, Canadiens C David Desharnais was a game-time decision on Thursday and wound up playing. He scored his third goal in six games in the first period. ... The goal by Canadiens LW Max Pacioretty was his second in two games and sixth in the past eight. ... Senators LW Clarke MacArthur's first-period goal was his sixth goal in seven games and temporarily moved him within one of the team lead. ... Senators LW Bobby Ryan restored his two-goal cushion in the team scoring race when he snapped out of a season-high, six-game slump in the second period. ... Through two periods, Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher had seven of his team's 17 shots on goal.